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Overview

Over the decades, American leaders have primarily explained the foundations of the U.S.-Israel relationship by properly citing shared democratic values and the moral responsibility America bears to protect the small nation-state of the Jewish people.

While accurate and indispensably important, this characterization of the core basis of the U.S.-Israel relationship is incomplete because it fails to capture a third, crucial aspect: the many ways in which Israel advances U.S. national interests. Today, Israeli contributions to U.S. national interests range across a broad spectrum.

Robert D. Blackwill, Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and former deputy national security adviser for strategic planning and U.S. ambassador to India, and Walter B. Slocombe, senior counsel at Caplin & Drysdale and former undersecretary of defense for policy and senior adviser for national defense in the Coalition Provisional Authority for Iraq, make the case in a coauthored report that Israel is a strategic asset for the United States. The report was sponsored by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

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"A new study from a Washington think tank supportive of ties between America and Israel is seeking to rebut growing sentiment among military experts who question Israel's value as a U.S. strategic asset." (Nathan Guttman, Jewish Daily Forward)

"Written after a telephone interview with Ambassador Blackwill regarding his November 2011 report Israel: A Strategic Asset for the United States, coauthored with Walter B. Slocombe and published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Contrary to Washington wisdom, Israel is a clear strategic asset to the United States, says a new study by a bipartisan pair of veteran diplomats" (Lee Smith, TabletMag)

Robert D. Blackwill is the Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. In government, he served under George W. Bush as U.S. ambassador to India and then as deputy assistant to the president, deputy national security adviser for strategic planning, and presidential envoy to Iraq. A former senior State Department official and National Security Council aide for European and Soviet affairs, he served out of government as a senior fellow at the Rand Corporation, president of BGR International, and associate dean of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Walter B. Slocombe is senior counsel in Caplin & Drysdale's Washington, DC, office. A Rhodes scholar, his lengthy government resumé includes service in the Pentagon throughout the Clinton and Carter administrations, including his appointment as undersecretary of defense for policy from 1994 to 2001. In 2003, he served as senior adviser for national defense in the Coalition Provisional Authority for Iraq.

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